Jorge Perugorría: 'It is proven that the prosperity of the Cuban people depends on the US lifting the blockade'

April 4, 2021

Cuban actor Jorge Perugorría said in an interview with Spanish newspaper ABC that "it is proven that the prosperity of the Cuban people depends on whether the United States lifts the blockade" on the Island.

Perugorría spoke about his most recent works and the current moment in Cuba, which he described as "very difficult".

"After the (Barack) Obama administration, which for us was a change that favored entrepreneurs especially, with the arrival of (Donald) Trump we took a step backward and returned to a policy that has not worked for 60 years, of blockade and confrontation, and that is why today the development of civil society itself, which was emerging within Cuba, has been harmed," said the actor, without mentioning the Cuban regime's harassment of independent civil society and the private sector.

In his opinion "the Cuban government continues to make gestures wanting to change things".

"Out of the hundred activities that Cubans could do independently of the State, it has now been expanded to more than 1,000," Perugorría affirmed. Currently, the Cuban government prevents 124 groups of activities from being practiced privately, which primarily affects university professionals.

"Hopefully the reforms continue (from Havana) and the (Joe) Biden administration opens up again," Perugorría said.

The official Cuban discourse routinely points to the United States embargo as the main obstacle to development on the Island.

Asked about his decision to remain in Cuba, the actor admitted: "I am privileged because I found in Cuba what many seek elsewhere, which is being able to live from your work".

"I understand people who have left and I know how hard it is to abandon your homeland because it brings so much longing," he said.

Perugorría described the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic in Cuba as "complicated," but believed that "a great effort" has been made to control it.

"Now there are two Cuban vaccines that are about to come out, Soberana 2 and Abdala, which are going to guarantee being able to vaccinate all the Cuban people and it is even announced that they are going to export it to other countries. I am very eager to get it," he said.

Jorge Perugorría has finished a series produced by the Filmin platform, filmed in Barcelona in which he plays a Cuban psychologist.

"We filmed Doctor Portuondo in Barcelona, a series directed by Carlos Padial and it has been quite a luxury since it has a first-rate cast of both actors and crew," he explained.

"It is based precisely on the book that Padial wrote back then and that was based on the relationship he had with a Cuban psychoanalyst whom he went to see for therapy for five years. This Cuban is quite a character who studied in Cuba and lived in the United States where he related to great figures of psychoanalysis to end up in Barcelona and set up his own clinic," Perugorría commented.

"The next thing I will do will be the second season of the Mario Conde series, another character to whom I have great affection," he added, referring to the character created by Cuban writer Leonardo Padura.

Protagonist of full frontal nudity in theater works in the early years of his career and later of a film that broke taboos in Cuba, Strawberry and Chocolate, Perugorría said he hopes he still has challenges left to accomplish.

"It is always good to find new characters and learn from those experiences. It is true that as a young man in theater I had to play roles that caused a scandal, but I think that rebelliousness and that breaking of barriers are part of an artist's life".

When asked if he still believes that artists are there to question and politicians are there to answer, Jorge Perugorría said that "people have the commitment to question power and it is good to never lose that perspective".

"I like art to be committed. In addition to entertaining and bringing enjoyment to people, it is good that we ask ourselves things, of power and of existence itself," he added.